textproduct: Quad Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Unseasonably warm conditions continue through Columbus Day, with near record temperatures Monday. These temperatures combined with breezy SSW winds will also result in an elevated risk for agricultural field fires south of I-80.

- A cool down the second half of the week with increasing rain chances, especially Wednesday night into Thursday.

- The potential for frost will be on the increase next weekend.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 149 PM CDT Sun Oct 11 2026

Another fantastic early October day is ongoing outside, with 1 pm temps in the mid to upper 70s and dewpoints in the 50s. The remnants of Isaias was well to our east centered over Kentucky, with wall-to- wall sunshine locally.

Afternoon temps to climb a few more degrees topping out similar to yesterday in the low to mid 80s. Our 18z DVN sounding has a rather strong inversion around 970 mb likely keeping us just short of records today. Tonight, strong WAA just to our west will keep temperatures quite mild overnight only dropping into the mid to upper 60s. This will be close to record warm lows for Oct 12th and those numbers are referenced in climate section below.

Columbus Day, a weak surface low to track from NE into northeast IA through the day with the local CWA fully entrenched in the warm sector. An increasing pressure gradient, WAA aloft, and mixing up to 875mb to allow for some breezy SSW winds during the afternoon with an occasional gust over 25 mph. A noticeable increase in humidity is also expected with Tds rising into the lower 60s. Some 12z model solutions are even hinting at some moisture pooling along the approaching front bringing some mid to upper 60s Tds to the CWA. With forecast soundings showing deeper mixing and our recent dry stretch, I am not overly confident in these values so I decided to cap values at 65 for now closer in line with the 12z REFS. Kept similar highs to what the night shift had which is near the top end of guidance and feel this was still the way to go. With near record temps forecast and the breezy SSW winds, there will be an elevated risk for fire spread in fields despite the higher Tds. The new GFDIAg values south of I-80 still show some pixels in the Very High category and believe this may be a tad underdone for tomorrow. If we do overachieve the highs just by a few degrees and MLI hits 90, it will be the 2nd latest 90+ degree day in its period of record! The latest is Oct 13th 1975.

LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 149 PM CDT Sun Oct 11 2026

Tuesday through Wednesday night

There is an increasing likelihood for showers and storms starting Tuesday evening. Tuesday guidance has an upper level ridge over the Midwest with a closed upper level low over the Western Conus. Surface high pressure will be situated over the Southeast US. The 250 mb jet streak will be rounding the top of the ridge Tuesday through Wednesday night and as pointed out in the SPC Day 3 outlook, there is a shortwave moving east north of the Great Lakes Tuesday through Wednesday. All together synoptic scale lift and support is there for storm development. There is also consistent WAA at 850 mb with the low level jet.

At the surface, the Monday cold front looks to stall across the IA/MO border before slowly moving south again overnight into Wednesday morning. Along this boundary, dewpoints will be in the upper 60s to low 70s. PWATS of almost 2 inches are present in both the GFS and ECMWF across southeast IA, northwest MO, and west central IL. The REFS joint probs for CAPE/shear are 40-70% across that same region Tuesday evening. All this puts the latest chances for rain overnight Tuesday at 60-90% areawide. The highest likelihood for isolated severe storms (20-30%) will be southeast IA and northeast MO, which the SPC Day 3 Convective Outlook has in a Marginal risk.

Thursday through the weekend

Continued high moisture across the area with another weak wave means there is another bout of showers and storms during the day Thursday with a 60-80% chance. The axis for thunderstorm potential will again be south of I-80. Then a cold front is progged to sweep through the area Friday, bringing with it much cooler temperatures. This is also where the long-term guidance starts to diverge. Both the GFS and ECMWF have a trough moving ESE from Canada Thursday into Friday, but the ECMWF has the upper level low over Colorado pinch off and move west. The GFS, on the other hand, has the same upper low move east and merge with the trough. The models disagree on how cold the 850mb temps will be. The ECMWF has minimum 850mb temps of 2C by 12Z Friday, while the GFS has -5C by 15Z Friday. Either way, the latter half of the week and into the weekend will see much cooler temps closer to seasonable values and, depending on which solution verifies, we may see our first frost potential Saturday and Sunday.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/

Issued at 1232 PM CDT Sun Oct 11 2026

VFR conditions will prevail through the period. Clear skies will remain in place through 12/00-03Z, at which point high clouds will move in. Of greatest concern for aviation will be LLWS potential from after 12/03-06Z to 12/12-13Z as a low level jet develops northwest of the terminals atop an inversion layer. While there is lower confidence on which terminals may be affected, especially at MLI/BRL, have included in this issuance at CID due to increasing confidence. DBQ was not included in this issuance due to marginal LLWS and lower confidence. Winds today will be from the south at 10- 15 kts before turning southwesterly tomorrow with potential for gusts of 20-25 kts after 12/16Z.

CLIMATE

Issued at 121 AM CDT Sun Oct 11 2026

Record highs for October 11th...

Burlington, IA......88 in 1962 Cedar Rapids, IA....88 in 1962 Dubuque, IA.........85 in 1928 and previous years Moline, IL..........88 in 1962

Record Warm Lows for October 12th...

Dubuque, IA.........64 in 1997 Moline, IL..........68 in 1997

Record highs for October 12th...

Burlington, IA......86 in 2024 and previous years Cedar Rapids, IA....88 in 1995 Dubuque, IA.........86 in 1886 Moline, IL..........87 in 1947

DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

IA...None. IL...None. MO...None.